Swiss railways are extortionate without a half price card and expensive with.

A Zone 10 card for 1 month with halb-tax at 89chf is much cheaper than the equivalent monthly ticket in England, with the advantage that the trains are 10x more clean and reliable. A GA for 3550chf also covers the entire country, whereas the same price in the UK will get you basically a stretch of rail network.

For example, using the National Rail Sesaosn Ticket Calculator you can see that a yearly pass from Northampton to London Kings Cross, a journey of a mere 1hr 40 mins would cost a stonking £6032... thats 8963chf. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/servic...ticket/tickets

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You seem to be one of those folks who just continually posts complaints and moans about things here without checking facts first. Makes a person look a bit silly sometimes to be honest.

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What I don't get is why people worry about prices...you earn way more here than in UK, your apartment is better quality then anything of similar price in London, there are mountains and skiing on your door step, you can be in Italy/Germany/France/Austria within an hour or two, you never queue for bags at the airport..Switzerland rocks and we're all lucky to live here. ps: Mars bars and fizzy drinks are bad for you.

Correct me if I'm wrong but no Swiss financial institution had to actually pay for the creation of the Alps, they were an added bonus after the destructive powers of the Ice Age. You can't argue that geography offsets spending power.

A Zone 10 card for 1 month with halb-tax at 89chf is much cheaper than the equivalent monthly ticket in England, with the advantage that the trains are 10x more clean and reliable. A GA for 3550 also covers the entire country, whereas the same price in the UK will get you basically a stretch of rail network.

For example, using the National Rail Sesaosn Ticket Calculator you can see that a yearly pass from Northampton to London Kings Cross, a journey of a mere 1hr 40 mins would cost a stonking £6032... thats 8963chf. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/servic...ticket/tickets

The other important factor is that the price doesn't vary on SBB at any time, either. A friend of mine with a family railcard bought a ticket from Leeds to London on a one-off special offer for £89. Bargain!

However, had she bought the same ticket for her family without the special offer or railcard it would have cost over £250, and if she'd bought it within 7 days of travel it would have cost over £300!

The ticketing system in the UK is mental. You can buy tickets for the same journey at different times and they can cost double.

__________________“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan

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A Zone 10 card for 1 month with halb-tax at 89chf is much cheaper than the equivalent monthly ticket in England, with the advantage that the trains are 10x more clean and reliable. A GA for 3550chf also covers the entire country, whereas the same price in the UK will get you basically a stretch of rail network.

For example, using the National Rail Sesaosn Ticket Calculator you can see that a yearly pass from Northampton to London Kings Cross, a journey of a mere 1hr 40 mins would cost a stonking £6032... thats 8963chf. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/servic...ticket/tickets

You seem to be one of those folks who just continually posts complaints and moans about things here without checking facts first. Makes a person look a bit silly sometimes to be honest.

You're adding discounts etc. Etc. To this

What I do know for a fact is that a train ticket from Geneva airport to neuchatel single is 46chf without a half price card. That's £31for a 115km (75 miles) stretch.

When I had to get a train from glasgow to Manchester I booked a week in advance and it was £20 for first class. And that's over 220miles.

Sure the GA is great value...if you get use out of it.

I don't accept this Swiss railways are the same price so that's better argument others are babbling on about. Be organised and get your ticket in advance.

Also you seem to love ad hominem. Which usually means you're on your last legs for an argument. How about we discuss like adults instead of name calling?

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What I do know for a fact is that a train ticket from Geneva airport to neuchatel single is 46chf without a half price card. That's £31for a 115km (75 miles) stretch.

When I had to get a train from glasgow to Manchester I booked a week in advance and it was £20 for first class. And that's over 220miles.

Sure the GA is great value...if you get use out of it.

I don't accept this Swiss railways are the same price so that's better argument others are babbling on about. Be organised and get your ticket in advance.

Also you seem to love ad hominem. Which usually means you're on your last legs for an argument. How about we discuss like adults instead of name calling?

You said, and I qupote, that it is: "Extortionate without a halb-tax. Expensive with." It's not. As for the discounts... who with half a brain doesn't buy a halb-tax who lives in Switzerland?

We both know, along with everyone else reading this, that you don't have a leg to stand on saying that Swiss trains are expensive in general vs many Western European cities, and I can provide you with all the evidence and comparisons should you need it using popular train fare comparison sites. As for the ad hominem comment, I never quite understood why people think that is a sign of anything, I said what I said because I meant it, but I guess it's sometimes easier to fall back on some loosely perceived moral high ground if all else fails. *shrugs*

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My personal favourite is getting to Heathrow airport - all fine and good if you are leaving town (what people in London call the disproportianately large city) but arrive from the nuclear wasteland requires either:
- A trip into town to come back out again on an overpriced direct train
- Change somewhere awful onto a coach/bus
- Take a coach/bus from your starting point

In Switzerland they use the ridiculous idea of putting the airport on a major line - and stopping there!! Crazy!!!!

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Why would anyone Switzerland based ever set foot in Heathrow when visiting the UK?
Over my 7 work travels to the UK I tried Heathrow once only to drop it in favour of London City airport. Crazy dense schedule (about 30 connections daily if you count all providers), the most relaxed of London airports, bang on the M25 and close to M1/M11. Sweet.

Why would anyone Switzerland based ever set foot in Heathrow when visiting the UK?
Over my 7 work travels to the UK I tried Heathrow once only to drop it in favour of London City airport. Crazy dense schedule (about 30 connections daily if you count all providers), the most relaxed of London airports, bang on the M25 and close to M1/M11. Sweet.

As I'm as yet unable to edit my posts, just add that the number 7 above relates to years of travelling there once a month. Not overall visits as it may be construed.

anyone saying swiss railways are expensive compared to the uk needs there head testing!! I was unfortunate enough to have to use the train daily into london, about 40 miles each way, using the 'express' train it took 90 minutes and I had to pay £20 each way, on top of the £5 per day to park my car.

even with the stunning average of 26 mph the train still managed to be late most days, I never got a seat, the train was the old wooden slam door type, hell in the summer and freezing in the winter, and at least once a week was cancelled for no real reason, cancelled trains don't count towards the companies punctuality targets (or didn't at the time)

a season ticket was over £3k

sure you can get 'cheap' tickets if you book far enough inadvance, and travel 'off peak' but that really doesn't cut it for most people.

Then again you can also get very cheap tickets here from the SBB website if you book inadvance and specify what train you'll be getting, so I don't really see what point was trying to be made??

I'll stick with my GA thanks

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Switzerlanded be damned. What's interesting here is Swissified. Like thinking access to all of London is comparable to a Zurich Zone 10 pass

Well economisto, if you take the same size of section as Zone 10, and then take the comparable area in London, it will still work out cheaper over one month. My point was obvious, but please feel free to keep this amusingly lame pedantic act that your newly-fabricated username and internet persona seems to have brought with it.

Well economisto, if you take the same size of section as Zone 10, and then take the comparable area in London, it will still work out cheaper over one month. My point was obvious, but please feel free to keep this amusingly lame pedantic act that your newly-fabricated username and internet persona seems to have brought with it.

I'm actually smiling. Firstly, have a read over your post again. You were JUST accused of ad hominem and then you write that. You feel I used to post under another username? And now....what? And I didn't realise that it was distance we should be comparing. Cause then we really need to bring Egyptian train prices into the mix.

Well economisto, if you take the same size of section as Zone 10, and then take the comparable area in London, it will still work out cheaper over one month. My point was obvious, but please feel free to keep this amusingly lame pedantic act that your newly-fabricated username and internet persona seems to have brought with it.

Well go on then. Take the same size of section in london. Make sure that zone has an equivalent population to handle as well.

And post up the price.

Here is me doing it. I want to travel to Geneva to Zurich without a half price it is 84CHF (£57).

If I want to travel from Glasgow to Manchester tomorrow as well. Bigger cities AND a longer distance. The train will also have wifi on board. I'm flexible with my time so don't mind travelling off peak. £16.50

I want to travel in the morning. Ok it's £30. I want to travel in the afternoon. £27.

I don't think it's unreasonable to plan a journey one day in advance. But if you need to leave the same day it would cost £67. A difference of £10 for bigger cities and a longer distance.

Balls in your court Richdog. Don't let your insecurities about your intelligence get in the way now.